BrandACT 10: Workshops begin in September

Accelerate your marketing

Invest one day to learn fresh tactics to increase your ROI and advance your business

Could a $399 investment help create a $40,000 sale? Yes! Learn where to focus your marketing to reach the right people and compel response and you will drive sales results. Presented by Jennifer Larsen Morrow, Brand ACT teaches you new concepts and fresh tactics that will help you choose which marketing strategy will generate the biggest return. Now’s the time to transform your marketing program.

Profit from experience

Now your business can profit from Jennifer Larsen Morrow’s experience and insight, honed from more than 30 years of brand work with clients in numerous industries. She brings proven strategies and high-impact ideas to every attendee.

Jennifer created Brand ACT to help businesses like yours identify their position in their market, clearly define their audiences, then focus on the point of choice—where each audience makes a decision. Fine-tuning all messages and visual systems at the points of choice yields tactics and tools that will be more effective at a lower cost.

When your marketing is focused; your messages are clear and compelling for each targeted audience; and your brand is memorable; you will generate attention, boost sales and improve your bottom line.

You will learn

• How to communicate who you are in business and why you’re different from (and better than) the competition
• 5 steps to defining your audiences so you can reach them more effectively
• How to uncover the “wow” that captures attention and interest
• How simple changes at the “point of choice” can make a huge difference to your sales results
• The power of connecting every contact point you have with your audiences
• That different generations respond to different media, and what media to choose for your audiences
• The importance of benefits vs. features, and how to identify your strongest benefits

Lots of interaction

The workshop is formatted for plenty of interaction, with no more than 25 attendees. With worksheets and discussion throughout the day, you’ll be able to to voice your opinion and ask plenty of questions. You’ll learn specific actions you can implement immediately, and you’ll leave with tools you can use for both short- and long-term planning.

Bring your team members to align around a common direction and focus … your brand.

September 2010

All sessions 9am to 4pm

Locations and Dates:

California:

Los Angeles: Saturday, Sept 11

Oregon:

Portland: Thursday, Sept 16

Salem: Tuesday, Sept 21

Eugene: Friday, Sept 24

Fee: $399. Second person from same organization, $200

Register now by going online to brandact10losangeles.eventbrite.com or call Creative Company at 1.866.363.4433 for more details and to reserve your place.

Looking forward to 2010

Just one more post about the upcoming year?

Yes. And from our perspective, we see many changes, and yet much that will remain the same.

2010 will be different than 2009

2009 was not a year that was kind to all. However, it was a year for many companies and industries to discover what was essential, what they’re good at and where the business should be when it is streamlined and focused. We discovered that. And many of our clients did, too. One of the advantages of a business like ours is we have an overview of different industries and how they have been affected by the economy.

The food business took a hit with a drop in foodservice orders, due to the shrinking dining industry. Private education felt the impact of more students looking for ways to save tuition costs by attending public alternatives or delaying entering college. The wood products industry scrambled to just stay in business, to weather the huge reduction in orders and cement relationships with existing outlets and clients. Others just did everything they could to focus their marketing on building relationships and maintaining sales volume.

Yet forward-thinking organizations also took the opportunity to re-examine their positioning in their market, define and refine their messages, explore new market opportunities and create a whole new context for who they are in business and how they’re perceived … with a new brand. An article quoted by a client referred to “a crisis is a terrible thing to waste.” So true. We’re confident these organizations will see 2010 as the launching of a new level of success, of recognition and bottom line results. And we’re proud to have contributed to their success.

What remains the same?

The essence of branding is understanding your audiences–who they are, where they are, how they interact with you and what their perceptions are of you, your products and services. This will remain the same. It’s critical every organization be clear about who they are from the perspective of their audiences, and that the message and idea of what they offer is defined from the audience’s point of view. Add to that the need to distinguish and separate one organization/company/product from the competition … in the mind of the target audiences … and you have the essence of solid marketing strategy, the foundation of effective branding.

The power of branding is astounding. When the right message, the compelling idea, and visual impact are created to support that organization/company/product, the results can be phenomenal. And we have seen how even the smallest updates and changes can make a huge difference to all audiences, especially the internal audiences.

The last post referred to the power of employees to build the brand. Your employees and staff, those who interact with your customers, must embody the idea of the brand. Their interactions create the brand experiences and cement them in the minds of your audiences. Often the highest impact of a new message and brand will be seen with your internal audiences.

Thus for Creative Company, we will continue to focus on the defining, strategizing, development and implementation of a brand that has power and substance, that represents visually and conceptually what the essence of an organization is and how that organization benefits its target audiences. And with that focus, we will narrow our attention to the top-level strategy and concepts that set the foundation for ongoing marketing.

How will 2010 be different?

We have learned from the crisis of 2009. Numerous articles in business publications also reference how other organizations have become more streamlined, effective and focused as they navigate through the economic downturn. Many say we will never return to “business as usual.” We believe we will return to “business at its essence” by focusing our energies and resources on what we do best. And we believe the organizations that do the same, that reach for a new level of communication and take a stand for their place in the market will also be successful in 2010, whether or  not the economy rebounds in 2010 or 2011.

Best wishes to everyone for a  prosperous 2010!

Transform your business in 2009

Are you wondering what you can do in these tough economic times to make your marketing work harder to generate the results you need? Are you feeling overwhelmed by all of the talk about new media and social networking and branding? If you spend any time at all reading business publications or even just watching the news, there is a lot to sift through and evaluate. Is this a time of opportunity or a time to cut to the bone and hunker down?

Well, we have a bit of advice to offer. Focus your marketing, don’t cut it out. Marketing is not fat, it’s muscle. And when you tone that muscle and concentrate your efforts where your customers and potential customers are most likely to see it, you’ll be more effective without spending more money.

Because we know so many businesses are in a similar dilemma, we’re putting on BrandACT™, a workshop on marketing and branding. This intensive one-day workshop, led by Jennifer Larsen Morrow, the president of Creative Company, will stimulate your brain with new insights and deliver valuable tools and tactics you can put to use right away.

We’re currently enrolling for a session at the Crowne Plaza LAX in Los Angeles on March 7, 2009, and for another session at the Holiday Inn in Wilsonville, Oregon, on March 10, 2009 (Register now). The workshop runs from 9am to 5pm. Jennifer will explain the principles of branding and how they can be used to make your marketing, recruiting and fundraising efforts far more efficient and effective than ever before.

Jennifer has more than 30 years of experience creating effective, award-winning brands and marketing programs for a range of clients in industries as diverse as food products, professional services, financial, manufacturing, telecommunications, waste management and higher education. She is an engaging speaker with an arsenal of examples to show and success stories to tell.

In the sessions planned for 2009 Jennifer will share a new perspective on branding that begins with the essential “points of choice” in the sales, recruiting or fundraising process. This proprietary approach has been tested and proven with many clients in many industries. By focusing first on the audiences, then identifying where they make their choice to ask for more information or to make a purchase decision, each marketing program built from the point of choice is more effective. By fine-tuning all communications, messages and visual systems at the points of choice (which are different for each organization and each audience) and then seeking out other existing opportunities to apply the tactics of branding, Jennifer and the Creative Company team have created exceptional results for our clients, generating greater attention in their markets, increasing the number of inquiries and driving sales volume.

The workshop is formatted for plenty of interaction, with no more than 20 attendees. Often attendees use the group as an informal focus group, to test ideas and discuss strategies. With worksheets and discussion throughout the day, you’ll get a chance to voice your opinion and ask plenty of questions.

Jennifer has spoken to conferences such as the National Marketing Conference for NTCA (National Telecommunications Cooperative Association), the annual conferences of PNACAC (Pacific Northwest Association of College Admission Counselors), and the annual conference of NACAC (National Association of College Admission Counselors). She receives rave reviews from those who have attended BrandACT in the past or have heard her speak at conferences and business groups.

It’s just one day. And it’s one day that could transform the course of your business. It’s also a great day for you to step back from the marketing you’ve been doing, take a fresh look, gain some insight from a branding expert and your peers, and establish a new direction based on how you can differentiate your organization in your marketplace, where the essential “points of choice” are for your target audiences, and what the best communication tools are for your market, your business and your audiences. Ready to transform? Check out our Website at www.creativeco.com.

Obama’s “Yes We Can” Brand

 

My friends, whether you voted for Barack Obama for the next president of the United States or you didn’t, one thing is for sure, the Obama brand identity speaks “victory” in so many ways.

We couldn’t help but notice the Obama media machine’s clever messaging, the consistent, yet flexible identity system and the decision to incorporate the Web and social media as a significant component to the brand strategy which no doubt helped bring about a ground swell of funding and votes.

The website, barackobama.com featured constant campaign updates, photos, ringtones, videos, widgets, and events to give supporters a reason to to keep coming back. While the campaign’s social network, my.barackobama.com, allowed supporters to create their own blogs around platform issues, set up their own mini fund-raising site, send policy recommendations directly to the campaign, organize an event, even use a phone-bank widget to get call lists and scripts to tele-canvass from home. Ain’t that great, a veritable plethora of viral communities and tools right at your finger tips!

Just look at the difference between both leading candidate site identitys. Obama’s site is smart, bright and relatively flawless in execution with finessed typography, detailed gradients and subtle background illustrations compared to McCain’s dark, flat and traditionally non-distinct political sameness. Even the merchandising is worlds apart.